Future/ Toekomst

My Dutch teacher sent me a small story
by Simon Carmiggelt. She (the teacher) made an adaptation of the text for me, which
means for Dutch beginners.

That was about small future. I
wrote here in English to share the story.

Future

My grandson, six-years-old, came to
sleep with us. After watching allowable TV and had fun in the bath,
he lied down on the bed with his wet hair and he called us: "Grandpa
and Grandma, do you come here?"

We came and sat on the edge of the
bed. He asked:

"Are you going to shave tomorrow?"

"Yes"

"If you shave you'd be a little
smaller," he said. "How come that old men are so small?"

"They shrink, I guess."

He looked doubtful.

"When I'm eighty, how old are you
then?" He asked.

"One hundred thirty-four, but so
old we can not be."

He understood it and made a lower bid,
"Then if I'm twenty-six?"

"Then we're eighty."

When I said it, I realized that I
scared of it.

But he comforted us:

"I will become a machinist,
because I know how to collide two trains," he said.

"And you can always ride with me.
For a dime. At the station you can say that you are my grandfather.
Then it will be allowed. But then you have to bring something nice
for me. "

"Chewing gum?" My wife asked.

Because that he loves.

"No, what I like when I'm
twenty-six. What do I like then? "

When we couldn't find a good answer
soon, he said: "Marrowfat beans would I do like it. That you
should put in a hot pan. For on the go ".

We promised it and kissed him for
goodnight.

While we stood beside of his bed, he
said, with courageous tone:

"If you become very small, huh?
I'll take care of you. I am already married. And I buy one child.
Because children are so expensive, though. For you I make a shoebox.
To live in. That can be if you become so small. I make it a door in,
though. And make a hole also for the air. During the holidays you can
come in the car. Then I put the shoebox on the shelf in the back
seat, next to the cat. Nice, huh? "